Diaphragmatic Breathing: Techniques and Instructions

Note. This website uses words "diaphragmatic breathing" and "abdominal breathing" interchangeably (as synonyms). Technically speaking, there are separate groups of muscles that can stretch or expand the lower parts of the lungs. However, since the purpose of breathing retraining is to improve body O2 during automatic breathing (not during breathing exercises only), this division on diaphragmatic breathing and abdominal breathing is practically insignificant. When people have low O2 content in body cells (less than 20 s), they suffer from chest breathing. With more than 30 s for body O2, Nature ensures diaphragmatic breathing 24/7. Many yoga teachers, however, teach about divisions and even subdivisions of abdominal and diaphragmatic breathing, but they do not know and do not teach their students about the purpose of yoga. These are usually the same yoga teachers who claim that breathing more air improves body O2, and that CO2 is toxic waste gas.

Many modern yoga teachers can teach diaphragmatic breathing exercises for years, yet their pupils will not have automatic diaphragmatic breathing during sleep or at rest. The reason is very simple. Their methods to not address the cause of chest breathing: too fast and too large breathing causing low body and brain oxygenation. This page explains how to get basal diaphragmatic breathing.

Diaphragmatic breathing 24/7 is necessary for ideal oxygenation of the arterial blood (about 98-99%) and efficient lymphatic drainage of abdominal organs (up to 60% of all lymph nodes are located just under the diaphragm).

The ideal automatic breathing pattern at rest is very slow, light, and mainly abdominal (diaphragmatic breathing). Such small diaphragmatic breathing increases oxygenation of the human body. Yoga masters and a few other exceptional people have only 3 small diaphragmatic breaths per minute at rest (during unconscious breathing). This corresponds to about 3 minutes for the body-oxygen test and over 8 minutes for maximum breath holding time.

When we breathe more than the medical norm at rest (that is only 12 small diaphragmatic breaths per minute with about 500 ml for one breath), it is called hyperventilation. If deep diaphragmatic breathing causes CO2 losses, it is called "hyperventilation". Hyperventilation or deep diaphragmatic breathing reduces oxygen delivery to all vital organs in the human body. Note that sick people breathe about 2-3 times more than the medical norm and suffer from low CO2 in the lungs and reduced O2 levels in body cells (see links below). You may have a brief moment of even additional hyperventilation (on top of what you have now) when surprised or reading a good quote for bad credit auto loans but this shouldn't concern you if it doesn't last long.

On this page you will find diaphragmatic breathing exercises and techniques, but let's begin with a simple test for diaphragmatic breathing and the cause of chest breathing in modern people.

How to test your own breathing technique

How to check one's predominant automatic breathing technique? Do you usually breathe using the belly and diaphragm or chest at rest?

Self-test or simple breathing exercise. Put one hand on your stomach (or abdomen) and the other one on your upper chest (see the picture on the right). Relax completely so that your breathing dynamic has little changes. (We want to know more about your usual unconscious breathing.) Pay attention to your breathing for about 20-30 seconds. Take 2-3 very slow but deep breaths to feel your breathing in more detail.

Now you know about your usual breathing technique. In order to be certain, you can ask other people to observe how you breathe when you do not pay attention to your breathing (e.g., during sleep, while reading, studying, etc.).

Diaphragmatic breathing exercises and techniques

Here are three abdominal breathing exercises to test and develop diaphragmatic breathing.

Warning. It is vital for your health, abdominal breathing, good blood oxygenation, and respiratory and GI health to have a straight spine 24/7. Correct posture encourages abdominal breathing, while slouching prevents belly breathing.

Repeat this diaphragmatic breathing exercise for about 3-5 minutes before your main breathing exercises to reconnect your conscious brain with the diaphragm. You can practice this exercise for some days until you are sure that diaphragmatic breathing is the usual way to breathe during the breathing sessions.

For some people with persistently tense diaphragms, who in addition have problems with slouching and constipation, magnesium can be an additional assisting factor.(A lack of magnesium leads to spasm and tension in body muscles.)

If the diaphragm is still not the main muscle for your automatic breathing, and/or you have doubts about your ability to keep your chest relaxed during breathing exercises, apply this ultimate solution.

Important note. The diets of modern people are low in magnesium, which is a known relaxant of smooth muscles, the diaphragm included. The normal daily requirement for Mg is about 400-500 mg. Typical symptoms of magnesium deficiency include: a tendency to slouch (indicating muscular tension), predisposition to constipation (muscles of the bowel also get into a state of spasm; hence "Milk of magnesia" or magnesium oxide is a popular and safe remedy for constipation) and tense diaphragm, causing chest breathing 24/7. Try taking a Mg supplement (about 400-500 mg daily plus calcium to maintain a proper balance) for 3 days and monitor your symptoms and any effects on your posture, breathing mechanics and CP. (See more about this 3-day test in the manual Major-Nutrients Guide for higher Body-Oxygen Levels.)

You need to restore a light and easy automatic breathing pattern or normalize your breathing in order to have abdominal breathing 24/7. What are the most effective abdominal breathing techniques? Hatha yoga and the Buteyko breathing technique help to prevent chest breathing. There are even more effective ways listed below.

Why modern people do not have diaphragmatic breathing

Modern people breathe about 2 times more air than the medical norm (see Homepage for details). Hyperventilation causes alveolar hypocapnia (CO2 deficiency), which reduces blood flow and oxygenation of the diaphragm muscle, while arterial hypocapnia makes smooth and skeletal muscles tense, the diaphragm included. If you were to take a close look at some old movies, you would hardly see any chest breathing at all. This is because people in the past had only 4-5 L/min for minute ventilation at rest (modern numbers are about 12 L/min for normal subjects). Hyperventilation makes modern people oxygen deficient (see instructions for the body-oxygen test below) and this makes them chest breathers. Therefore, diaphragmatic breathing is very rare these days.

Diaphragmatic Breathing vs. Chest Breathing

and Body-Oxygen Content

Body-Oxygen Content	Automatic breathing at rest: diaphragmatic or chest?
1-10 s	Virtually always chest
11-20 s	Chest in over 90% of people
21-30 s	Mostly chest
31-40 s	Mostly belly
over 41 s	Virtually always belly

As we see from this Table, diaphragmatic breathing usually becomes the norm (24/7), when the morning body-oxygen level (CP) is over 30 s. It is logical then that people in the past (about 100 years ago or more) had abdominal breathing 24/7 because they had more than 40 s for the body-oxygen test.

Since relatively healthy people have only about 20-25 s CP these days, most people are chest breathers.

Why diaphragmatic breathing is rare

Link to this video: Why Modern People Do Not Have Diaphragmatic Breathing

Relevant web pages
Diaphragm function (What are the main jobs of the diaphragm in the human body)
Why most modern people do not have diaphragmatic breathing (This article explains causes of chest breathing in modern people)
Why breathing should be mainly diaphragmatic at rest (There are 2 fundamental physiological reasons why chest breathing produces devastating health effects)
Why normal breathing is shallow (or light and easy: slow and small in tidal volume).

Reference pages: Breathing norms and medical facts:
- Breathing norms: Parameters, graph, and description of the normal breathing pattern
- 6 breathing myths: Myths and superstitions about breathing and body oxygenation (prevalence: over 90%)
- Hyperventilation: Definitions of hyperventilation: their advantages and weak points
- Hyperventilation syndrome: Western scientific evidence about prevalence of chronic hyperventilation in patients with chronic conditions (37 medical studies)
- Normal minute ventilation: Small and slow breathing at rest is enjoyed by healthy subjects (14 studies)
- Hyperventilation prevalence: Present in over 90% of normal people (24 medical studies)
- HV and hypoxia: How and why deep breathing reduces oxygenation of cells and tissues of all vital organs
- Body-oxygen test (CP test) : How to measure your own breathing and body oxygenation (two in one) using a simple DIY test
- Body oxygen in healthy: Results for the body-oxygen test for healthy people (27 medical studies)
- Body oxygen in sick : Results for the body-oxygen test for sick people (14 medical studies)
- Buteyko Table of Health Zones: Clinical description and ranges for breathing zones: from the critically ill (severely sick) up to super healthy people with maximum possible body oxygenation
- Morning hyperventilation: Why people feel worse and critically ill people are most likely to die during early morning hours

References: pages about CO2 effect:
- Vasodilation: CO2 expands arteries and arterioles facilitating perfusion (or blood supply) to all vital organs
- The Bohr effect: How and why oxygen is released by red blood cells in tissues
- Cell oxygen levels: How alveolar CO2 influences oxygen transport
- Oxygen transport: O2 transport is controlled by vasoconstriction-vasodilation and the Bohr effects, both of which rely on CO2
- Free radical generation: Reactive oxygen species are produced within cells due to anaerobic cell respiration caused by cell hypoxia
- Inflammatory response: Chronic inflammation in fueled by the hypoxia-inducible factor 1, while normal breathing reduces and eliminates inflammation
- Nerve stabilization: People remain calm due to calmative or sedative effects of carbon dioxide in neurons or nerve cells
- Muscle relaxation: Relaxation of muscle cells is normal at high CO2, while hypocapnia causes muscular tension, poor posture and, sometimes, aggression and violence
- Bronchodilation: Dilation of airways (bronchi and bronchioles) is caused by carbon dioxide, and their constriction by hypocapnia (low CO2)
- Blood pH: Regulation of blood pH due to breathing and regulation of other bodily fluids
- CO2: lung damage: Elevated carbon dioxide prevents lung injury and promotes healing of lung tissues
- CO2: Topical carbon dioxide can heal skin and tissues
- Synthesis of glutamine in the brain, CO2 fixation, and other chemical reactions
- Deep breathing myth: Ignorant and naive people promote the idea that deep breathing and breathing more air at rest is beneficial for health
- Breathing control: How is our breathing regulated? Why hypocapnia makes breathing uneven, irregular and erratic.

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